Chickenpox and Charlie the Adventurer
by Valantha
Summary: Charlie is sick with the chickenpox, Rachel tells her a story. Fluffy sickfic


**Chicken Pox and Charlie the Adventurer**

- Author's Note: After last week's episode, I needed some happy mother-daughter time. My cold was another inspiration.

* * *

"Mommy…" Rachel woke with a start, her stiff neck spasming. She took a second to sort out her unusual position and the afternoon sun streaming in from an atypical angle – she had been napping on the rocking chair in her children's room. She turned her attention to Charlie.

Charlie had thrown off all of her covers and was shivering and scratching at her crusting pox. Rachel scooped up Charlie's blankets and bundled them on top of her, trapping her scratching hands beneath them. Rachel took her finely calibrated mom-thermometer and felt Charlie's forehead and red cheeks, stroking back her sweat-dampened hair. She was hot, but not as dangerously feverish as Danny had been two days ago when she had been forced to use up the last of their pre-Blackout baby-Tylenol, since the sponge baths just weren't working.

"Sweetheart, do you want some rosehip tea?" It wasn't the orange juice her mother gave her whenever she was sick, nor the hot Tang her father swore by, but it contained lots of vitamin C, and it was what she had.

Charlie shook her head no.

"Some rabbit stew?" Also not the chicken noodle soup or posole her parents gave her, but it was nutrient dense and easy to eat.

Another head shake.

"Some water?"

Charlie shook her head and replied, sounding half her age, "I want a storwie."

Rachel checked on Danny, finding him fast asleep and hot but not overly so, and pulled her rocking chair over to Charlie's bedside.

"Once upon a time there was a brave and smart adventurer. Her name was Charlie," Rachel began. Charlie adjusted her blankets and settled into her pillow, getting ready for a good tale.

"Charlie and her good friend…" Rachel paused waiting for Charlie's input – that was always Charlie's favorite part of storytelling.

"Danny," she said.

Rachel smiled and continued, "Charlie and her good friend Danny walked all over the Kingdom helping farmers find their lost goats and helping traders fix their broken wagons. Charlie and Danny would travel far and do many good deeds, but would always return in time for dinner. One day as they were looking for people to help, something unusual happened…"

Rachel turned to Charlie and gave her a smile. Charlie thought a moment and then filled in the blank, "They meet a prince, Batman."

Rachel quirked a half-smile, Charlie had been spending too much time around Aaron Pittman if she thought Batman was a prince, and continued the story, "Charlie and Danny meet a grumpy, crime-fighting prince named Batman, and he needed their help. You see, Batman had lost his mommy and daddy and didn't know where they were."

At this point Charlie laughingly interrupted and said, "Mom, Batman doesn't _have_ a mommy or a daddy!"

"Oh, that's sad," Rachel said, overacting for effect, "Why did Batman need Charlie and Danny's help?"

Charlie pondered a moment, "Batman's toys were all broke."

Rachel nodded and continued, "The brave and smart adventurers, Charlie and Danny, met a grumpy, crime-fighting prince named Batman who was even grumpier than normal because all of his crime-fighting tools were broken. Batman had tried to fix his tools all by himself, but that didn't work. Batman had gotten his good friends Batwoman and Batboy to try and help him, but they were just as confused by the broken equipment. Batman had heard about Charlie and Danny, the brave and smart adventurers, and knew they could help him fix his tools. Once they had all been properly introduced, they all rode back to his home on his Bat-horse and the smart Charlie took one look at his crime-fighting tools and knew exactly what was wrong with them. She said…"

"They use 'lectricity. 'lectricity is all gone," was Charlie's innocently hurtful reply.

Rachel grimaced slightly and continued telling Charlie's tale, "Charlie told Batman that all of his crime fighting tools were broken because the electricity was all gone from Gotham City, but that she and Danny would help him make new tools for fighting crime. Just like Charlie and Danny had had to learn to do without their favorite toys and television, they could help Batman learn to live without electricity too. Charlie showed Batman how to use a normal rope to climb trees and buildings instead of his Bat-grapple. Danny showed Batman how to use a big bell instead of the Bat-signal."

Rachel's limited knowledge of Bat-tools was starting to run out, but she forged onward, "But most importantly, Charlie and Danny showed Batman that he didn't really need his fancy Bat-tools, his wits and his words were all he really needed to fight crime in Gotham City. Charlie, Danny, and Batman shared some Bat-cookies in celebration and Charlie invited Batman home for dinner, since he didn't have a mommy or daddy to eat dinner with. Batman happily accepted and they all rode back to Charlie and Danny's house. Charlie introduced Batman to her Mom and Dad, and they had a tasty dinner of rabbit stew, and Batman went back to Gotham City and they all lived happily ever after."

Charlie giggled at the classical ending, and Rachel asked, "Do you want your own tasty dinner of rabbit stew?"

Charlie nodded and Rachel was happy to see it. The chickenpox had really destroyed her appetite.

Rachel left with an admonishment, "Don't scratch, you'll just make it worse," and ran downstairs to get a bowl of the rabbit stew she had made this morning and left simmering at the back of the stove. Rachel knew her story was far from perfect, but it had distracted Charlie from scratching at her pox and might have even encouraged her to eat some food.

Rachel made a fresh mug of willowbark tea and ladled a bowl full of rabbit stew. When she returned upstairs, she helped Charlie sort out her blankets and sit up. She sat sipping and blowing on the willowbark tea as Charlie ate a couple of large spoonfuls before losing interest in her food.

Rachel knew she would regret asking this question but she really _needed_ to know the answer, especially after Charlie brought it up on her own, "Charlie, what do you miss about the electricity?"

Charlie pushed a bit of turnip around her bowl before answering, "I miss Dora, and cartoons, and ice cream, and going really fast in Dad's car."

"Oh," Rachel said and sipped the tea. It was almost cool enough for Charlie; she'd just need to add a lot of honey to mask the bitterness of salicylic acid.

As Rachel stood up to grab the honey pot, Charlie continued unbidden and completely without pausing for a breath "But I like playing outside with Billy and Jamie and Annie and how you and Dad are always home now and not mad anymore."

Rachel turned around facing her daughter, certain that they had done a better job at hiding their stress from Charlie "Sweetheart, Dad and I weren't mad before."

Charlie just rolled her eyes,_ six-year-olds weren't supposed to do that,_ and actually ate the piece of turnip she'd been playing with.

"We weren't mad, we just had a lot things to worry about," Rachel tried to explain.

Charlie poked at her stew some more, and Rachel walked back to the jerry-rigged sideboard, topping the willowbark tea off with a large scoop of honey. She gave it a stir and tasted it. Sickly sweet with a hint of bitter, it would have to do.

Charlie's eyes were beginning to droop, so Rachel grabbed the soup bowl, and said, "Sweetheart, please drink this up, it's make you feel better."

Charlie sipped the tea, made a face of protest and took a larger gulp. After three gulps she looked up at Rachel, her eye asking 'now can I be done?'

Rachel smiled and vanished the half empty mug. Charlie scooted back down under the covers and scratched half-heartedly at her arm before sighing and dozing off.

Rachel quietly checked on Danny before moving the rocking chair back to the corner and finishing Charlie's stew and tea. Rachel was glad the chickenpox had almost run its course in Charlie, and even Danny's blisters were beginning to scab. Rachel was also glad this bout of disease was only the chickenpox and nothing worse. Neither Charlie nor Danny had had their 6-year-old booster shots, so were venerable to whooping cough, measles, mumps, small pox and polio, all of the nasty 'childhood' diseases that had claimed so many lives before the development of the vaccines. Rachel worried about all of the other children who didn't even have the first inoculation, the children born into a powerless world, the children whose deaths could be heaped at her feet. Rachel shook her head and massaged her neck. Ben was right; she needed to stop thinking about that. She needed to focus on right here, right now, on her family, and making sure they survived.

To that end, she got up and checked on Danny once more, stroked Charlie's hair and kissed her temple before tucking her blankets more tightly around her small body. She began thinking of possible skin-soothing salves to ease the itchiness of the pox – since she had used up the last of the calamine lotion that morning.

* * *

- Author's Note: Reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated :)


End file.
